So the move is over and I am completely settled in.

Suuure. I wish it was as easy as that.

First off, you should know, the movers that I hired were AMAZING. They loaded my stuff from my old apartment, in the truck and into my new place in 1.5 hours.

I AM NOT EXAGGERATING.

Best money I ever spent (and they were CHEAP). If you’re in the Boston area and are looking for movers, I definitely have the guys for you. Shoot me an email and I’ll get you their contact information.

So what was the problem?

The former tenant.

DUN-DUN-DUUUUUUUN.

The former tenant decided as a final farewell to TRASH the place. I saw it about a week and a half before I moved in and it needed a little love, but overall, me likey.

You know what me NO likey? Boxes of garbage. BOXES. Of GARBAGE. BoxES. As in MORE THAN ONE. As in MANY. All over the living room. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 pieces of random kitchenware – coffee mugs, mismatched saucers and bowls – strewn about. Shelves, tables, chairs, dirty pieces of fabric used as curtains half hanging, random brackets screwed in all over the place. And the best part? ALL OF HIS FOOD. The cabinets were full, the refrigerator was full.

The hardwood floors were covered in a sticky grey film (EWWWWW). And the bathtub was full of grayish, greenish, brownish water.

Did you just throw up in your mouth? Good. Me too.

I had planned on taking a half day at work, letting my new roommate’s movers get his stuff in, and actually arranging my apartment that night – but there was no way I was leaving the place the way it was and coming home to SLEEP in it.

So we went to TOWN. Dragging out box of garbage after box of garbage after box of GARBAGE to the street. We got on the phone calling (begging? pleading?) with cleaning companies to come by. We got an appointment for the next morning at 9 am, waved our white flag, ordered some pizza and called it a night at 11 pm.

Just as planned, the cleaning crew came in at 9 am and legit were all “Ummm….really?”

They didn’t leave until 2 pm. They were AMAZING. The place probably never looked or smelled as good EVER. They helped drag out boxes and assorted garbage. They help move furniture to where we wanted it. All that was left for us to do by the time they were done was hang shelves and art. AMAZING. I can get you their contact information as well (this particular job was not cheap …. but honestly, based on the way the place looked, I thought they would have charged us DOUBLE what they did. They assured us follow up cleanings will be MUCH LESS).

I spent the afternoon spackling, painting, measuring, leveling, hanging, arranging and by end of Saturday, the place looked like this:

It was livable! And happy! And preeeeetty.

I would NOT have been able to get that done with out my movers, cleaning crew, new roomie, and wonderful boyfriend. You all deserve a medal. Or at least a beer. Or eight.

By the end of it, we were all so exhausted there was nothing we could do but kick back and enjoy the new view

Oh by the way … did I mention I was sick all weekend? Like spiked a fever, couldn’t swallow, was simultaneously shivering and sweating, sneezing machine. Jealous?

I need to nap for days.

Stay tuned for an update later in the week where I’ll show you what I did to the kitchen. You’re going to die at the genius idea I had …. or maybe that’s just my fever talking.

I’m moving tomorrow. Yes again. But this move is welcome for three reasons:

#1) This move cuts my cost of living down by 26% (as part of my 30 Before 30 list I wanted to hit 25%. Needless to say I succeeded.)

So yay for more money to put towards student loan debt and investing. (Two more items on my list.)

#2) I hired movers. There used to be some meme on MySpace of FacePlace or the like that said “After 30 you hire movers and don’t ask your friends to help you move.” I support this for a few reasons: one it’s annoying. No one likes to move. It sucks. My friends and I have a deal: I don’t ask you to help me move, you don’t ask me. We are grown ass adults. We can pay for this service. Even more than the general annoyingness of moving, one of the most important reasons to me for hiring someone to move me is that movers are efficient. They are there to grab your stuff, pack it in a truck and get it to your new home. There is no dilly dallying. I don’t have time to do this myself, or waste time going through my stuff as I move it. I’m only taking a half a day off to assist the movers with this and then I’m going into work after. Efficiency – I love it.

#3) I’m only bringing what I need. In preparing for my move I got rid of more than half of what I own. I went through my clothes and sold anything that doesn’t fit and is brand new or only worn once. I gave some really nice pieces of clothing away to friends and coworkers. I donated the rest to charity. I sorted through books and donated ones that are useful that I don’t need anymore. I finally threw out bags (and bags and bags and bags) of stuff that was in storage … because I thought someday I’d use it? Guess what? It’s been in storage for two years and I haven’t used it. GONE.

The rule: if I haven’t worn it, used it, needed it in the past year – there is nothing to consider, it’s garbage. And I actually went a step further and trimmed down the stuff I have used, but don’t NEED. I don’t want stuff just to have it. I want stuff that I use or wear or need.

I packed my entire life into 10 boxes (3 large, 5 medium, 2 small). These boxes contain clothes (1 box), shoes (1 box), art supplies (2 boxes), pieces of art (1 box), health & beauty products (1 box), books & DVDs (1 box), cookware (1 box), and glassware (2 boxes). I disassembled my bed. I arranged my bookshelf and dresser. All of my wordly possessions fit into a square in the middle of my living room waiting for pick up. All of it is colored coded and labeled by room and contents. (NERD!)

As for long term living solution, I know signing a lease for one year isn’t a long-term solution. But this place is very affordable, it’s big enough and it’s in the right location for me. So I am comfortable saying that for the rest of the time I rent as single gal in the city, it will be in this apartment.

I’m two months into my 30 Before 30 list, and I have to say, I’m pretty proud of the number of things I’ve crossed off already. I’ve got almost 4 months left to tackle the rest. Here’s to not resting until it’s done!

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In June, I made a list of 30 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 30. I gave myself 6 months to complete it. Feel free to keep up with my progress (as I check things off my list): here.

I checked two more things off my 30 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 30 list:

#1: Update my Resume, which can now be found here.

#2: Create an Online Portfolio, which can now be found here.

Check ‘em out. Feel free to pass them along or give me some feedback. I’d appreciate both :)

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I made a list of 30 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 30. Feel free to keep up with my progress (as I check things off my list): here.

I was clicking around Hulu looking for something to watch and noticed the Lifetime Movie Network offers several of their movies through the Hulu service. As a lover of all things ridiculous (Hello? Mother May I Sleep With Danger?), I clicked through to see what they had to offer and saw this:

click for larger view … or just scroll down

Close up of that description please?

More notably, the TAGS …

Directly compared to the rating for that program …

I don’t know what is more “reckless” – rating a XXX porn PG or falsely selling a PG movie as XXX porn.

I love you Lifetime.

I’ve been coloring my hair for more than a decade (I think I started with highlights/lowlights when I was about 18). I’ve gone blonde, to red, to brown, to blonde, to blonder, to blondest, and everything in between. This has added up to …. a LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT of money spent on hair. Terrible.

Lately I’ve been going darker, letting the sun bleach out all the color and letting my roots grow in. HOT.

I’m not entirely sure what my “natural” hair color is, but when left alone my hair usually grows out in a dark blonde-ish color with darker roots. I went dark chocolate brown (loved it!) back in March and …… 2 weeks later I went to the Caribbean (stupid) and the color got totally bleached out and I hadn’t touched it since.

I have a wedding coming up and as hot as dark roots and super blonde tips would look in photos, I just wanted to even out my hair and blend into one color. Call me crazy, I know.

On Saturday night my hair looked like this (it’s gross so prepare yourselves):

Seriously Jenny … there’s this totally crazy invention – it’s called “a brush”. Try it out some time.

By Sunday afternoon, I had thrown in some dye (and found my hairbrush apparently) and got this result (I included a couple of CLASSY pics so you can check out the depth you get from going with my method):

How to dye your hair at home without ruining your look:

1.) Do not even think about dying your hair on your own if you want to change your hair more than 3 shades in either direction. And even then, I don’t recommend going lighter yourself. You could end up with orange hair and then what? You’re in a salon paying to fix it. Some things are worth good money for – highlights? blonde? GO TO A PROFESSIONAL. If you have dark blonde, light brown or medium brown/red and want to go darker – you may proceed.

2.) If this is your first time, go for a semi-permanent option. If you hate it, the color will wash out in 12-28 shampoos (depending on the level) and if you love it, next time you can opt for a permanent dye.

3.) Know what you’re buying. Pay attention to words like “warm” “cool” and “neutral” and know what that means when coordinating with your skin tone. There are usually keys on the box (“If your hair is currently light brown the following shades will work well…”). Pay attention to them. Also pay attention to the kind of dye you’re buying and what is in it. I recommend avoiding ammonium and peroxide. Leave the heavy duty chemicals to the professionals.

4.) Don’t pick one box, buy it and go. The key to a more natural looking dye job is to mix colors. That’s what they do in a salon and it’s what you should do at home. But stay with one product line – if you go with Garnier, buy both shades in the Garnier family. For this dye job, I chose a color ONE shade darker than my own and mixed it with the darker color I was going for (about 3 shades darker than my current color). It’ll cost you double — but home hair dye? Is like $5/box. Cough up the extra $5. It’s worth it.

5.) Don’t wash your hair. If you plan on dying your hair on Monday, wash it 24 hours before on Sunday and keep it free of styling product build up. Do not wash your hair right before coloring your hair — your hair produces oils that you need to protect your tresses from the dye.

6.) Open up both boxes, lay out all the bottles and READ THE DIRECTIONS. Some dyes call for dry hair to start, others for damp hair. Some you leave on longer than others, some for as little as 5-7 minutes. Some are creams that you need to lather, some you brush through. Know what you’re getting yourself into. As for the mixing part – I mixed the individual colors in their applicator bottles, poured both into one bowl, mixed together, then put that mixture back into the applicator bottles and shook the heck out of it to mix it thoroughly.

7.) Take the time to apply it right. No one wants a streaky dye job (that’s why it’s important to have your hair free of styling product build up – you want even coverage). Make sure you apply and coat your hair evenly from root to tip. It’s easier to do hair in small sections and then go around for a second time on your whole head and make sure everything is coated evenly.

8.) Post-coloring: Condition, Condition, Condition. Hopefully you laid on the dye, let it sit, rinsed, dried and got the color of your dreams! But your work is not finished. Your dye kit probably came with a weekly conditioning treatment – use it. Use that heavy duty conditioner once a week, and buy a “color protecting” conditioner for every day use. It will keep your hair soft, shiny and protected after this dye job and in good shape for future colorings.

I have to say for this particular dye job (a simple brown mix), I really don’t think I’ll ever need to cough up $100+ at a salon ever again. Obviously for those times I feel like blondes have more fun, I’ll definitely shell out the extra dough. I’m not messing with that. But for simple dye jobs and maintenance? This is the way to go!

Ok your turn. Go have fun and good luck!

In fear of jinxing any of it (what am I FIVE?) I had refused (until now) to blog about how I have been looking for new apartments. I know, I know I LOVE my current apartment. It’s adorable! And in a FANTASTIC location! But also? Is already ridiculously priced! And the landlord is sketchy! And said sketchy landlord wants to RAISE the rent! By A LOT.

When I made my “30 Things to Do Before I Turn 30″ list, I knew cutting down my cost of living had to be a big part of this. After all, items 9 & 10 (pay off car loan, pay of half of student debt) pretty much depend on a serious decrease in cost of living.

I kept this in mind when looking for a new place to live. As much as it saddened me, I knew there was a pretty good chance that I would have to move out of the (very beautiful, but very pricey) South End. WAH! It’s my favorite neighborhood.

I looked at a half dozen apartments from Jamaica Plain all the way to South Boston. None of them felt right (and to be honest – the South Boston ones were the PRICIEST of all!).

And then I found a two bed. In my beloved South End. With a REAL kitchen (my kitchen right now is a JOKE). With laundry IN THE UNIT. With an actual rectangle shaped living space! With bedrooms that can comfortably fit my furniture and I won’t trip over my bed! With closets – that have built ins! WITH ALL UTILITIES – heat + hot water + electricity + cable INCLUDED. FOR WAY CHEAPER THAN I’M PAYING NOW.

I knew it was a long shot (about a dozen people were looking at the place during the same open house I was).

I submitted an application (with my soon to be new roommie Adam. My darling South African Jew!) and a few days later the deal was sealed. We got it!

How much is this move saving me?

TA-DA!!!

ONE WHOLE PERCENT MORE THAN I SET OUT FOR!

Sure it’s not my current street, or quite as modern and my current place – BUT it IS bigger and closer to my Urban Family (we’re all on the same side of the South End now). And most importantly – it’s going to help me on my way to completing those two other financial goals!

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I made a list of 30 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 30. Feel free to keep up with my progress (as I check things off my list): here.

I closed comments on the giveaway entry precisely at 3:00 pm. Then I hopped, skipped & jumped my way over to the Truly Random Number Generator (very helpful in giveaways like this as to not pick favorites!).

And truly random it is! I honestly do not know the person who won! Even better!

Commenter #17. CONGRATULATIONS ANDREA!

I hope you enjoy your new jeans (and post them on your blog!)

Thanks to everyone for entering – and thank to Gap for the opportunity (I’ll gladly host more! HA!)!

Nearing the end of a particularly hectic week, I came into work to find a box on my desk. I opened it up and found a prize! For me! From Gap!*

Talk about impeccable timing:

The gift came with the message “We Dig Faded Denim This Summer” – but do I dig faded denim? That is the question.

The truth is – and it’s surprising to me – I think I do enjoy this faded denim jacket. It’s thin (not all heavy like your typical denim jacket), you can roll the sleeves and layer over tanks. Love it!

Gap is wonderful enough to give me a certificate for one lucky reader to pick up a pair of Gap Jeans of their own (you choose!).

WHAT YOU WILL WIN:
A certificate for one pair of Gap jeans to be used in-store at any Gap, GapKids or BabyGap.

HOW TO ENTER:
You can enter twice for more chances to win! (If you do BOTH entries, please make a separate comment for each entry.)

MANDATORY ENTRY (worth 1):
Visit Gap.com and tell me what pair of jeans you’d pick up!

EXTRA ENTRY (worth 1 extra chance to win):
TWEET THIS: Win a free pair of Gap Jeans from Gap and @alleyesonjenny! Visit http://tinyurl.com/2ctv2f7 to enter to win! #gapborntofit

Contest ends Wednesday, July 21st, 2010, 3 PM EST. Winner will be drawn at random.

Good Luck!!

*Disclosure: The above jacket package as well as the giveaway gift certificate were given to me for free by the Gap.

As part of my “Professional Development” portion of my 30 Before 30 list, I wanted to get educated on the art of video editing. Right now work is so hectic I’m not sure if I have the extra time to take a formal class. But I certainly DO have the time to fit in a webinar, video podcast, youtube instruction here and there.

Between playing around with iMovie and a few of these online tutorials, I think I’m decent enough at making videos that are “YouTube worthy” to post to my company’s blog. Sure there is always more to learn (like how to hold a damn FlipCam steady for instance) and I will continue taking part in educational webinars and reading tutorials to get better, but here is a sampling of a few videos I created on my laptop and posted to YouTube:

You can see all of my work (so far) on the AdvantageBOSTON YouTube Channel. (Wow. I really need to customize the background on that page. Yuck.)

I think these videos are good enough to cross that one off my list.

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I made a list of 30 Things I Want to Do Before I Turn 30. Feel free to keep up with my progress (as I check things off my list): here.

As an indirect part of my “Thirty Before Thirty” list, I’m trying to make better purchases. {Click on that link to see all of my money related “to-dos”.}

What makes a purchase “better”? Well I’m trying to only make necessary purchases. Unfortunately I have a few weddings coming up – with overlapping guests, which makes it hard to wear the same thing. Not to mention that I literally don’t have an item of clothing dressy enough to wear to either. (Not that they’re super dressy weddings. More like I don’t fit in to anything I own. Let’s not talk about it.) I don’t want to spend the cash on a brand new dress. Much less TWO brand new dresses.

So I made a deal with myself: I could buy ONE dress, but it had to be versatile enough to wear to BOTH weddings. And I couldn’t spend more than $75.

I’ve been looking for weeks now, and couldn’t find anything that fit both criteria. Until today.

I wandered into a store on Newbury Street on lunch and within minutes I found a black, short sleeved trapeze dress by Betsey Johnson that screamed “Buy a thin patent belt and cinch me! Layer on some chunky necklaces! In the fall, pair me with tights!”

I grabbed it, tried it on and it was a perfect fit.

BUT JENNY. THAT SITE LISTS THE DRESS AT $359. YOU FOOL. WHY DID YOU TRY IT ON?

HAHA! The store I wandered into? “Rescue” – a thrift store on Newbury Street that has a section of higher end, second hand clothing. The dress? Only $50! Twenty five whole dollars UNDER budget — which leaves me room to get a belt to cinch the waist and maybe a necklace or two to dress that baby up.

The dress is in perfect condition and in fact still had original tags on it. I don’t know who brought that dress into Rescue, or how it ended up there in such great condition – but to that person, all I can say is THANK YOU! Your dress has a happy new home.